JVC DLA-RS35 Observations
Mar 6th
JVC’s RS35 is the new king of the hill for JVC DILA technology. This unit has excellent light output, contrast and is very sharp.
Compared to the RS20 it has several improvements. The sample I looked at was about 20% brighter than my RS20. It was also sharper and had a little better blacks. The THX mode was much better than the RS20, but it was a little washed out (weaker gamma) than desired and the blacks were reddish instead of neutral. I suspect many would be happy with this mode out of the box.
The adjustments also changed from the RS20. The gamma adjustments are vastly proved. These are very accurate and allow precise adjustment of gray scale and gamma. They are also much easier to use than the RS20. The gain and offset adjustments were more course than the RS20 making the gamma control more important for good color. The color management system also seemed to be improved allowing for more accurate adjustment.
All in all this is a wonderful product.
Using Deep Color On Blu-Ray Players
Mar 6th
Many Blu-Ray players today offer the option of transmitting the video data using Deep Color. Blu-Rays are encoded with 8 bit data for each color so no additional detail will be created with this option so why is it present?
I have found activating 10 or 12 bit data for each color can degrade the image. When this feature is activated the data rate will increase dramatically potentially exceeding the cable capacity. The other thing that can happen is the data is incorrectly converted to the higher bit rate or it is improperly handeled in the source.
When you must alter the signal in the player with something like brightness or contrast that is a situation where deep color may help. This will only be true if the display fully supports more than 8 bit color data. Unfortunately, if you obtain the detailed design information you will find that many displays that accept a deep color input will just drop any data over 8 bits.
Wal-Mart Moves Into Movie Downloads
Mar 1st
It was announced last week that Wal-Mart is purchasing Vudu. My experience with Vudu has been very positive. I have not found any other pay-per-view service to have a higher quality video or audio experience. They offer various quality levels with the top level HDX being near Blu-Ray quality in both audio and video. This service is available with many devices including LG Blu-Ray players and stand alone boxes from Vudu.
SRS Labs MyVolume
Feb 24th
SRS Labs has released a new product that I am sure many will want. This device will equalize channel levels on cable and satellite to reduce the level of those annoying commercials. It costs $99.99 from SRS Labs. Note it does not support surround formats.
MyVolume HDMI Interface Specifications
Xrite i1 Pro Maintenance Tip
Feb 24th
I have found that the i1 Pro drifts very little with time, but one place you need to watch is how clean the sensor window is. I would carefully use a cotton swab to clean it when you see dirt on the window.
HDMI 1.4 Potential Cable Problems
Feb 23rd
Transparent Audio’s Josh Clark says, “”We are even more concerned that running an Ethernet signal side-by-side with the primary HDMI audio and video signals may actually degrade the resulting picture and sound quality because of signal crosstalk. For these reasons, Transparent is not planning to build HDMI 1.4 cables with the additional signal conductors necessary for Ethernet and Audio Return.”
Josh also said, “Consumers will have to buy all new HDMI 1.4 cables and components just to get Ethernet and audio return connectivity through their HDMI cables when they already can get these functions with existing Ethernet and audio cables.”
It does sound like many of the existing cables will support the higher data rates, but the additional audio and Ethernet capabilities will require new cables. Complete HDMI 1.4 support in a system will require new devices as well.
Is ISF Calibration Or Audio Calibration Worth It?
Feb 19th
ISF calibration is a service that can bring your display to peak performance. The truth is that displays and blu-ray players are not shipped with settings that deliver the best picture. Once you have seen an accurate image on a quality display it is a very captivating thing. Poor quality displays, rooms or sources will not be transformed into the best with this service. The quality of the results will depend on the system you own along with the tools, skill and desire of the person performing the work. An improperly setup display will have poor flesh tones, poor contrast and image artifacts. A calibrator who does not ask about the equipment you own or claims all displays will benefit is one you do not want to use. A quality calibrator should at a minimum use a video generator, spectrophotometer and real images to fine tune the image quality. An example of what a quality calibrator uses and does can be found here.
Audio calibration is a service that can dramatically improve your sound performance. The truth is that setting up receivers, speakers, subwoofers and blu-ray players properly is much more complex than people realize. The automatic setup routines found in today’s products are also not very effective at delivering anything close to the best sound from your system. Boomy bass, weak bass, inability to comfortably play the system loud, weak surround effect, irritating high frequencies and poor dialog intelligibility are just a few of the problems caused by improper setup. Systems that will benefit little from this service are ones where the room acoustics are horrible (lots of glass and tile) or if you listen so quiet that you can barely hear anything. An example of what is done by a professional can be found here.
In general the better your equipment and room are the more it will benefit from these types of systems. However, very modest systems can frequently surpass more expensive ones that have not been calibrated.
Surge Protection
Feb 18th
Protecting that home theater system from electrical damage is something you should spend a little time working on. When you look for places that harm can come from you need to look at everything that is connected to your system. These include power, telephone, cable, satellite and outdoor speaker wiring.
The single best thing you can do to protect your equipment is to use surge protection devices at the service entrance for power, cable and telephone. Tying these devices as shown below to the same ground will help prevent a surge from entering your home. These devices may need to be installed by a licensed professional. This type of installation is shown below and will also help protect all of the electric appliances on these circuits. Protecting your system from local lightening strikes is more difficult and involves preventing wiring acting like an antenna sending surges into your electronics.
More excellent information on this subject can be found at http://www.eeel.nist.gov/817/pubs/spd-anthology/files/Surges%20happen!.pdf.
Video Processors Benefits and Pitfalls
Feb 13th
Many companies offer external devices that can change the video signal from a source to the display. These products can take the form of video specific products like those from Lumagen or DVDO, or they can be embedded in receivers or audio processors.
These were born in the past due to substandard video processing in displays for film material or insufficient color adjustments in the display. Today’s displays are much more capable. They frequently have great video processing and color adjustments. In fact many video processors will do more harm than good today. I have seen many cases where they corrupt 1080p/24Hz sources. Denon video processors for example will not allow the brightness to be reduced which is the most common error.
The most common reason today to have some level of video processing today is to accommodate differences in sourced switched through a common HDMI input. This is most necessary when using S-Video and composite video sources. These devices usually have brightness and color level errors. Another common problem are displays that handle RGB and YCbCr differently. When this is the case converting all inputs to a single type can be very useful. Displays with these problems include some Samsung and Pioneer monitors. The best products I have found for these things are the current Onkyo receivers with video processing.
If you have a capable display and HDMI sources I would avoid external video processing. Buying a better display, speakers or subwoofer is likely to yield more value for the money. The reason for this is that the fewer devices that can alter the image the better. Since the display has to modify the data if it does it well there is no reason to possibly degrade the image. It is also common when a display degrades the image it cannot be bypassed by using an external video processor.
First Impressions CineLounger
Feb 12th
First Impressions makes custom home theater seating that should be considered for the best home theaters. These chairs are incredibly comfortable and very well made. They also offer a wide range of options. This is the same seating Jerry Rice (SF 49er) used in his home theater.
